The Stars Have Hope (Open)

[Darren Onyx]

Onderon, Three Years Ago...​

This wasn't Onyx's first choice for a hideout. His old and decaying fury-class interceptor was in it's final days. The old ship had been his prized possession for many years, since his training on Moraband just over twenty years ago. Tatooine was his intended destination but he needed to stop for repairs. Unfortunately he had little to no credits, at least not enough to pay for the repairs he required. And so he returned to the thing he new he could do: hunting down and killing someone for credits. Chasing bounties again, it was always a thrill even for the barely living Onyx.

Onderon, Present Day...​

​

The small, dark alley led to the spaceport. A man was running as fast as he could, pushing aside the trash and useless junk that was littered in his way. Before he could exit into the busy spaceport, a dark hooded figure landed on the ground before him. The man let out a small cry and stumbled backwards. "Please..." he begged, ".... I'll give you whatever you want..." his hands trembled and his words began to fail him. The figure stood above him and let out a low sinister laugh. Reaching for his belt, the figure activated a crimson red lightsaber that lit up the alleyway. The man began to cry out in terror as he saw the hooded figure's mask, a plain white mask and nothing else. While simple, it made the figure seem soulless almost, as if he was a mindless husk who was about to slaughter this man for no reason beyond the fact that he could.

As the man crawled backwards, his eyes never leaving the saber, the hooded figure just watched. He was enjoying it, watching this man suffer. With one swift strike, the saber was lifted in the air and brought down fast against the man. He didn't stand a chance, they never did...

The body fell limp and the saber deactivated. The stranger took his hood and mask off, placing his mask on his belt and hiding it within his tattered black robes. Darren Onyx was now forty-three years old, yet he looked like he was hundreds of years old. Grey hair, fake drafted skin peeling in multiple places, revealing the cybernetics that were keeping him alive, Onyx truly wasn't who he used to be. He knelled down and grabbed the body, throwing it over his shoulders.

Walking out into the spaceport, Onyx quickly carried the dead man to a small apartment building nearby. Upon entering there was a young women waiting. She gave him a cold smile as he walked in and dropped the body on the small table before her. "Such a waste," she said eyeing the body, "He probably begged, maybe even bribed you. Morkian was never one to fight," the women explained. She was very attractive, with short brown hair and piercing green eyes. She reached into a small box that sat beside the body and pulled out a handful of credits. She extended them to Onyx who took them and quickly placed them inside a small pouch on his belt. "You certainly are a mystery Darren," she smirked.

"I got what I need," Onyx replied coldly, "I can finish my repairs and leave." The young women's smile quickly faded. She nodded her head in disappointment. She turned around and walked over to a small table and sat down, eyeing Onyx for a moment after doing so. She could never read him, his emotions or what he was thinking. His almost emotionless personality made it hard for anyone to sympathize with him or understand him. Most people these days couldn't even talk to him without getting angry, scared, or something else in-between. Sometimes both. Onyx looked at her and nodded, a small frown forming. "I'm sorry Thalia," he said calmly. He walked over and sat across from her, his eyes locking with hers. "I have unfinished business on Tatooine I have to take care of." That was, of course, a lie.

Thalia sighed, "I know." She stood and extended her hand for him to shake. Onyx stood and instead went to hug her. The two embraced for what seemed like hours before separating. Onyx slowly turned and made his way out into the streets once more. Thalia watched him leave, "Good-bye my love," she whispered to herself.

Onyx walked through the crowded streets back to his old fighter, which was now nearly ready to leave. He had enough of this place, probably because it was the first time since his teenage years that he was living in one place for more then a couple weeks. It was strange, living in one place. He didn't like it too much, he missed living on his ship going wherever he pleased whenever he wanted. Now he could finally return to that lifestyle. Being the Onderon spaceport, anything bad could happen at any moment. Though Onyx hoped for once that maybe something could go in his favor, maybe without someone dying at the end of an encounter with him for once.

[member="Saria Messoa"] // [member="Koda Zaylr"]

 

[Ashalah Ky]

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, Saria wouldn't find any horrific scenes. No grisly murder scenes, human experimentation, anything like that. It would just be a normal living space. A bunk bed would be pushed against the far wall, with clothes and firearms piling up on the bottom bunk. That usually would be an indicator that Koda slept on the top bunk if that was not also covered in blankets and pillows that spilled over the edges. Scraps of metal and motherboards would be lined against one wall, showing a tinkerer and inventor hard at work in her latest project. There was even a little recharger station under a shelf where Copper could tuck in for the night. All in all, it looked like a normal room.

However, there would be one thing that stood out. Its properties would pull Saria in, her eyes would be reflected in the pure red crystal filling the golden triangular ornament surrounding it. Koda had no idea of these properties, which is why it was set out on the dresser with the rest of the trinkets she found. If Saria approached, it would pulse with an ethereal red light.

"What are you doing in my room?" A sharp voice would interrupt whatever Saria was doing. If she turned around, she would find Koda leaning against the door frame, arms crossed angrily over her chest. "When people say 'make yourself at home', they usually don't mean snooping through other people's belongings." She pushed away from the door and walked over to Saria, quickly scanning the room to make sure nothing was out of place or stolen. Her eyes would finally fall on the Holocron and she shrugged. "I wouldn't get so invested in that piece of junk. I found it during a supply run to Atollon. It doesn't really do anything, just a nice nightlight."

[member="Saria Messoa"]

 

[Saria Messoa]

Saria looked at the untidy room with an appraising eye. She wasn’t OCD, but her mom, in her incredibly traditional home, had taught her that it was a woman’s duty to make a house a home—and she did that by cooking, cleaning, and so on. Since she didn’t have much to contribute otherwise, she would try to make this place as homely as she could.

First she started with the clothes piled in with the weapons on the bed. She carefully extracted all the dirty clothes, piling them in her duffle bag and reverently laying the blasters on the bed. She didn’t want to dare mess with them, but she did want to wash the clothes. She grabbed a broom and swept up the metal floor, taking a rag and carefully scrubbing away any splotches or stains she found.

With that done, she moved to the work station. There were lots of technical bits and metal parts she didn’t understand, she didn’t dare touch them for fear of breaking anything. But the glowing metal object caught her eye, “Oooo.”

She could feel the negativity from it like a nasty burn on her skin and eyes. She recoiled with a gasp, grasping her hand like it had been burned. Koda’s voice made her jump again, her face burned with embarrassment at Koda’s words, she lowered her eyes to the durasteel flooring, “I—I—I’m” she offered up her duffle bag of Koda’s dirty clothes as an explanation, “Just thought I’d try to be useful and clean up some.”

When Koda mentioned the glowing metal thing, she pursed her lips and shook her head, “That thing is bad. I can feel the badness,” she winced, running her fingers through her hair. There it was, she was talking about what she promised herself she’d never mention. She sighed, she probably sounded like a crazy woman, but if Koda was going to be nice enough to take her on, well, she’d have to level with her. Saria owed her that much.

“Ever since I was young I could feel things that just—can’t be explained. Things that don’t make sense. When someone’s sad, I can feel their sadness. Sometimes when I grab a book I can feel the happiness or joy that someone else felt when they held it last. Its so distracting,” she ran her fingers through her brown hair nervously, “And sometimes I can touch others and make them feel what I feel. Sometimes,” Saria offered a nervous smile, “I guess that sounds pretty crazy, right?”

[member="Koda Zaylr"]

 

[Darren Onyx]

Another loud bang rocked through his ship. Onyx cursed under his breath as he examined the small screen before him, informing him his engine wasn't receiving any power. Shaking his head he shuffled quickly through the halls and exited his interceptor. Looking at it he began to curse it for existing. Angry he began to pace.

Thalia was gone, he'd need to find his own way out of this mess. Without any contact in the spaceport to get work from, he started to eye the various other ships around him in the hopes of finding someone that could help him out. Not far from him was a cargo freighter. Sighing he slowly started making his way towards it. As he approached he sensed another user of the Force on-board. He couldn't tell what her alignment was, he only hoped his disturbing facial features wouldn't give the owner of this ship the bad idea.

As he reached the main door he started to knock. It was such an odd sight, to see an aging war torn Force user knocking on the door of a freighter because his own ship was damaged beyond repair. An odd sight indeed.

[member="Saria Messoa"] // [member="Koda Zaylr"]

 

[Ashalah Ky]

"You....cleaned up." Koda arched an eyebrow and she scanned the room. "It looks good." The blasters had been laid out neatly on the bed, and Koda was glad she always triple checked the safety to make sure it was on. She didn't want Saria getting hurt. She knew that she said she knew how to use a blaster, but she was a greenhorn, still had that deer in the headlights look. Koda wasn't too worried. Their time making deliveries would change her, just as it changed Koda. She'd see the best and worst of what people could do, and she'd grow stronger and more dependent. Capable even.

However, as Saria started to explain what she felt, Koda's face fell into a look of confusion. She had never heard something like that before and she had heard of a lot of things in her line of work. "I don't know. I've encountered more than a few people who could use the Force, and they could do some pretty nifty tricks. Maybe it's that." She let out a shrug, her face shifting into a neutral mask. "Unfortunately, special powers is something I can't help you with. I--"

She was cut off when there was a sudden knocking at the door to her ship. She tensed up for a moment. One thing that being on these backwater worlds has taught her, she can't lower her guard even for a second. And don't trust anyone who comes to your door. She moved towards the door but glanced back at Saria. "We don't know what we're dealing with yet. Stay out of sight, alright?" A whistle caught her attention and she looked down, chuckling as the pokey little astromech rolled up. "Copper will keep you safe." She gave her a comforting pat on the arm before she moved into the split doorway and opened the door.

She took in the site of the old man, worn skin, grey hair. She still kept one hand on her hip above her blaster, nothing to make her look threatening, but it was ready to draw at a moment's notice. "Can I help you?"

[member="Saria Messoa"] [member="Darren Onyx"]

 

[Saria Messoa]

"You....cleaned up."

"I--just want to help," Saria said in a small voice, offering explaination.

"It looks good."

She perked up at the compliment with a beaming smile, "Well, thank you! Its the least I can do."

Koda mentioned how she didn't have the ability to help her with any special tricks. That was ok, she knew she had to somehow find her way, and she couldn't rely on Koda for everything. Sometimes a woman had to just figure it out herself. But, at least she didn't think Saria was crazy and that was something there. She gave a sigh of relief, tension leaving her body. She'd heard of the Force, just in passing. On Qiilura they had talked a little about it, but they were so far out of the way, except for once so long ago, nothing of that nature really ever came up. They didn't have Jedi or Sith temples, or any of the other smaller brands of Force users out there. It was more of a distant thing she'd never thought of for herself, something for someone else. Maybe--

Her thoughts were interrupted by the knock at the door. She quirked an eyebrow curiously, but Koda seemed to take it a little more seriously than her, like this was some sort of danger. With a gulp and a fearful nod. As Koda went to the door, Saria opened the closet to Koda's room, closing it behind her. She pulled out her blaster pistol, clutching it fearfully. Copper stood guard outside in the room like a short guard with a lot of heart and spunk.

Saria squeezed her eyes shut, her jaw tensing as she tried to be brave. She hoped she wouldn't have to use this, she had never shot any sentient beings before.

[member="Koda Zaylr"] I [member="Darren Onyx"]​

 

[Darren Onyx]

As the door opened, Onyx eyed the women who had appeared. In truth, he hadn't met many Twi'leks before. The ones he encountered were too busy trying to kill him, so he never befriended any of their kind. He didn't let that cloud his judgement though, she sounded experienced. She had to be to open the door in the first place, at least on this planet. He noticed the blaster strapped to her, her hand just above it on her hip. He smirked and looked up to her.

"My ship is just over there," Onyx motioned off towards his disabled interceptor not far off. "It's disabled, my reactor isn't delivering power to any of my primary systems," he explained with a cool, collected voice. "I was hoping you might be able to help me out."

He didn't know how she could, unless she was willing to come over and take a look at the old engine. He frowned at the thought of losing his ship, however even if he got it started he doubted that half of the systems would still work. He sighed as his head lowered. Looking back up at the Twi'lek, he shrugged. "I could use a lift out of here, to Tatooine preferably. I have credits to pay you, and whatever you wanna salvage from my ship."

[member="Saria Messoa"] // [member="Koda Zaylr"]